


Wistful in New Work

by JayWrites



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Light Angst, Post-Avengers (2012)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-05
Updated: 2016-05-05
Packaged: 2018-06-06 14:47:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6758428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayWrites/pseuds/JayWrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the destruction of New York, Steve Rogers sits in a cafe and ponders the new world and new possible relationships.</p><p>Slightly AU The Avengers plotline. This takes some months after the events of the film.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wistful in New Work

**Author's Note:**

> This is for my beautiful friend Mallory. The OC is named and inspired by her.
> 
> This has been sitting on my old tumblr for a year. I finally decided to move it here.

Steve sat in the diner sketching the skyline in his notebook. When he first awoke he had to get used to how much the city had changed—new buildings, new stores, the change in technology. Now he had to get used to it again thanks to Loki’s attack on the city. He looked at the building across the street. What once sat a deli full of delicious delicacies and impatient customers was now a crumbled graveyard that held markers—ribbons and photos—of deceased loved ones. The people around him didn’t seem to notice much. They were a resilient bunch. They had been through this nearly a decade before. Yes, they were angry and wanted justice but life, whether you wanted (or was ready for) it to, always had a way of continuing on.

“You want some more water?”

The waitress’ voiced pulled him from his dreary thoughts. He looked up at her and smiled when he saw her. Her long brown curls were pulled back into a ponytail but a few had fallen free and framed her lovely face. Her skin was a warm medium brown; her lips were full and painted red and were daring to be kissed. She also had a nose ring that pierced her septum. The first time he saw her he casually asked if it hurt. “Like a bitch,” she replied with a broad smile that caused one to grow on his own face before sauntering away to another table.

“Do you ever look around you,” he asked her now, “and get so unbelievably sad that it threatens to overwhelm you?”

She gave him a slight smile and refilled his glass. “Sometimes. Recently more often than not.”

He nodded his head and thanked her for the water. “If you don’t mind my asking,” he looked at the name tag pinned to her buxom chest, “uh, Mallory, but what do you do? About the sadness, I mean.”

Mallory furrowed her brow as she thought. “I don’t know. I guess… I guess I try to find some sliver of happiness wherever I can. Mostly with people I love.”

Steve felt a pain in his chest at her words. _The people I love._ All his people were long dead; lost in a time he couldn’t go back to. He nodded again and looked down. “And what if,” his voice wavered but didn’t crack, “what if everyone you love is gone? What do you do then?”

“You make new friendships. New loves. You gotta have something—someone—to hold on to when shit gets rough, you know?”

Steve exhaled and looked back outside the window. People rushed by the tattered remnants of the surrounding buildings. “You okay?” Again her voice brought him back.

“Yeah. I think.”

“Listen, if you’re lonely, Captain, you’re always welcome to befriend one of these bums here.” She said the joke loud enough to elicit a few playful groans from the regulars. She returned her focus to him and gave him another smile and, again, he couldn’t help but to return it.

She really was lovely. He found himself with the sudden urge to tell her that but he debated over whether he should actually say it aloud. Would she thank him? Or find it strange and inappropriate? If she didn’t mind him saying it, then what? He still didn’t really know how to talk to women. The fondue incident with Peggy weighed on his mind. What if he misunderstood something and ended up offending her?

“You want anything else, Captain? Or just the check?”

“Check,” he sighed with relief when she, once again, broke him from his thoughts.

“You sure you don’t want anything else?”

“Well… I just… wanted… to say…” The words seemed determined to spill out of his mouth.

“Yes…,” Mallory goaded. She had no idea what he was about to say. But she guessed that whatever it was had to be of some importance due to the reluctance at which he spoke.

“You… have a really nice smile.” A feeling of relief washed over him after he rushed the last words out.

“Really? Looks like somebody just got themselves extra fries on their next visit.” Steve gave a tiny, polite smile at the joke but a part of him was slightly disappointed. He tried not to dwell on it too long. “I’ll bring you the check.”

Steve took a sip of his water before putting his notebook in the right side of his pocket. Mallory returned to the table and gently placed the black book that housed the check on the table. He nodded and tried to hide his face from hers—he was too embarrassed from his earlier flirtation failure to make eye contact. Mallory walked away; her swaying hips called his eyes to them momentarily before he reached in his left pants pocket and pulled out his wallet.

He opened the book and on top of the ticket sat a white piece of paper. On it was written:

            _I like your smile too. Call me sometime, Cap’n. - Mallory_

Followed by the ten digits of her cell.

Steve beamed at the note. He looked up in Mallory’s direction and was surprised to see that she had been watching and waiting for him to look her way. She winked before turning to the customer in front of her. He paid the bill—with an extra generous tip added in—and exited the diner; mentally reciting her name and number in his head.


End file.
